Hoi Polloi Brewing
People's Park Pale Ale pours at 5.2 percent, hopped with Citra, Mosaic and CTZ. Viet Vu brews it in Oakland and sells it on Alcatraz Avenue.
Why go
Vu opened the taproom in 2014 on the Lorin District stretch of Alcatraz. Nobody brews it in this building any more. He told Berkeleyside in February 2016 that brewing was moving to 30th and Brook in Oakland, to a seven-barrel plant that more than doubles the capacity of Hoi Polloi's current three-barrel set-up,
and that the old brewing corner would become more seats.2 That seven-barrel brewery is what fills the taps today.1
The house explains its own name: Hoi Polloi (noun): the many, the masses, the working class.
1 Cider and wine pour beside the beer. Blindwood hard cider runs on tap, dry at 6.9 percent and a ginger-peppercorn at 5.8, and there is a short list of California wine by the glass and the bottle.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the People's Park Pale Ale, 5.2 percent and 35 IBU, then the Gabalicious West Coast IPA at 6.7 and 55 if you want the hops turned up.1
- Avoid: coming for the tanks. They are in Oakland and this room is the bar.
Good to know
- Timing: doors at 3pm most days, 4pm Mondays, and 1am closes on Friday and Saturday.1
- Booking: walk in.
- Getting there: Alcatraz at Adeline, in South Berkeley.2
Verdict
could-visit — The beer is made by the people who pour it, which is the whole reason to drink in a taproom, and the tap list carries hop names and IBU numbers. What holds it at this rung is that I have no bylined line on how any of it tastes. A spec sheet and a news brief tell me the room exists and who runs it. Neither one tells me the pale ale is good.